Damien

Quick disclaimer, I'm a young writer and this is one of the first proper stories I've ever written, it is a short story. I'm aware that it's not written fantastically and is pretty cliche in parts so constructive criticism and other ideas for me to write about are appreciated. With all that being said, thank you for clicking on this story and I hope you enjoy.

Warning: this short story ends on a cliff hanger and there is a brief mention of blood and implied murder

Angelica slowly strolled through the vast park, green, leafy giants stood great and tall far behind her. The joyful sounds of children laughing and playing and dogs barking could be heard for miles around. Angelica had no interest in the playground area of the park and she didn't own a dog. No, Angelica only visited that park to take long walks across the field that surrounded it whenever she felt like getting out of the flat for a bit or needed to clear her head.

Angelica showed little to no acknowledgement to the world around her, she far too engrossed by her phone screen. She wore a bothered, almost worried, expression on her face as she idly stared at the little glowing box in front of her face.

She had this look because her boyfriend Damien hadn't been responding to any of her calls or texts that day. They'd been together for a little over six months now and Damien had recently learned about her ex-boyfriend and wasn't at all happy to hear how poorly he had treated her. The name calling, the constant arguing, the cheating. He hated it. It was unusual him to ignore her though, she suspected it was because he'd been angry at her, but still, she continued with her persistent text messages and calls and when he declined her call or it didn't go through, she would leave another voicemail.

Damien didn't always respond to her messages straight away and occasionally he'd just leave her on read. But he'd never just blatantly ignored Angelica before. There was a tiny voice in the back of her head telling her something was wrong, but she elected to ignore it.
"Don't be ridiculous, Angie. He's probably just busy." She mumbled to herself, desperately trying to be convincing.
She was growing anxious and began to worry about him. Being out in the park wasn't particularly helpful either. She felt judged, almost as if people were watching her. Like they could see inside her head and hear her thoughts, experience what she was feeling. Angelica suddenly felt a wave of anxiety wash over her and began to walk faster across the field, her pace quickening with every step.

Eventually, she reached the park gates, and when she did..she froze. Only for a brief moment, and suspiciously looked all around her as she cautiously took a step outside the grand gates and just kept walking. She walked quickly, hurriedly even, and did not stop until she made it back to the block of flats where she lived. She came to a sudden halt outside the main entrance of the building. Her heart pounding, hands shaking and head banging. She wanted to cry, she wanted to scream, she wanted to vomit and collapse, all right then and there. But she didn't. Instead she just stood there, completely motionless and silent. A distant expression on her face. No end of people stared at her as they walked past, but she didn't care. Angelica never really cared about how people stared at her or what they thought of her, her life was none of their business. Why should they care what she does or how she looks? They weren't her. With that thought she slowly began to break from her trance-like state and extended her hand out in front of her to push open the double doors.

Once inside the building she began to climb the three flights of stairs that led up to her flat. Angelica sighed and grumbled to herself as she walked up the stairs, mainly complaining about how many stairs there are and how they seriously need to add an elevator to the building. She climbed the last few steps and approached her front door, her keys limply dangling in her hand. By the time she got into the flat Angelica had no energy left, she boredly kicked the door closed behind her and flopped forwards down onto the sofa. It was black but had faded to a dark grey with age and had off-white fluffy pillows carefully placed on it for decoration. She hated pillows but it looked nice so she kept them nonetheless.

She'd hardly done anything that day and yet she felt completely exhausted and drained of all energy. She wanted to get up but all she could do was lie there, motionless, face down in the sofa cushions.

Then all of a sudden, her phone pinged.

Angelica shot straight up and violently ripped her phone out of her pocket. As she stared down at the screen her heart sank, it wasn't Damien. It just a notification saying her friend had left a comment on one of her social media posts, she felt a sudden surge of infuriation upon reading the notification. She had waited all day for a response from Damien and still had received nothing, not even one message. She slammed her phone down on the round glass coffee table in front of her and slouched down in her seat on the sofa, feeling rather defeated, she turned on the TV. She didn't know what was on TV and white frankly, she didn't particularly care. It didn't matter, she would watch it to pass the time while she waited on Damien.
"Not long now," she sighed to herself, trying her best to remain hopeful.

About three or four hours must have passed when the sound of footsteps came banging up the stairs suddenly caught her off guard. She snatched the remote from the sofa arm and hastily turned off the TV and stood up. She faced the door and braced herself incase anybody came knocking. Then the tense, brief, silence was broken by the wailing of sirens outside. Angelica began to panic, but she remained standing where she was, preparing to open the door if need be, staring at it intently.

Then the tension was abruptly broken when there was a loud booming sound, the front door burst open violently, close to breaking off the hinges. Somebody had kicked it down.

There, standing in the busted doorway, was Damien. His eyes were wild and bloodshot, his face and clothing speckled with dots and splatters of crimson and his hands stained redder than fresh picked roses. Angelica couldn't believe what she seeing, she was afraid, she wanted to run for it. But she didn't dare.
"Damien, where have you been? And...what the hell happened to you?"
He blinked once, slowly, and shifted his crazed gaze to the floor.
"So, you remember our little chat we had about your ex-boyfriend?"
"Yes Damien, I remember. What does that have to do with anything right now!?"
"Angelica..." his voice was gruff and low, the words seemed to catch in his throat as he spoke.
He went silent, glancing rapidly around the room and then finally, met her eye. His stare felt cold and hard, like a needle piercing into her soul. It sent a shiver down Angelica's spine, Damien's eyes were icy blue and erratic. There was a long pause, and then he spoke once more.
"Would you still love me, if...I killed someone for you?" His dull, blank face cracked into a sinister wide grim after this statement and his eyes twinkled in the red and blue flashing lights that shone through the window.